Dr. Colleen Kelley is a faculty member at Emory University School of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases with a multi-disciplinary background and previous experience in clinical HIV/STI medicine, HIV/STI epidemiology and clinical outcomes research, and laboratory-based research. The primary focus of her research is on mucosal HIV susceptibility in sexual and gender minority populations with a particular interest in biomedical prevention interventions. The goal of her research is to work towards optimizing efficacy of biomedical HIV prevention interventions, such as an HIV vaccine, pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis, and microbicides, for populations at high risk of infection. She is currently PI of several ongoing studies examining mucosal immunology and how real-life, human, sexual contexts can influence rectal mucosal susceptibility to HIV. In 2017, she established her own translational immunology laboratory focused on human mucosal susceptibility to HIV infection with specific expertise in flow cytometry and explant HIV challenge experiments with mucosal tissues and the microbiome. She also serves as Associate Director for the Emory Center for AIDS Research Clinical Core, and an investigator in the HIV Vaccines Trial Network and HIV Prevention Trials Network at the Hope Clinic of the Emory Vaccine Center. In addition to these efforts, she has maintained close collaborations with colleagues in the School of Public Health where she leads clinical PrEP implementation science efforts.
